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As the midterm election season revs up, Republican candidates around the country are targeting Vice President Kamala Harris in their campaign ads.
The “Harris-Biden” administration is a major threat, North Carolina Senate candidate Pat McCrory says in one ad. Harris and Democrats, McCrory says “want to radically change America for years to come.”
Jessica Taylor, who's running for a Senate seat, is warning Alabama voters of “Kamala’s America” and vows to be “Kamala’s worst nightmare” if she wins. Taylor also mispronounces the vice president’s first name in the ad –– Taylor doesn’t seem to recall that tactic didn’t help Senate incumbent David Perdue of Georgia last November.
Overall, Harris is appearing in Republican campaign ads, even though she’s taken on a team player role within President Joe Biden’s administration. From leading efforts on the border crisis to heading up the push for federal voting rights legislation, VP Harris has her hands full for sure, but she’s pointedly not publicly overstepped Biden’s leadership role. But by looking at Republican ads, you’d believe the Howard alumna is really running the show in the Oval Office.
And why is that? As reported in the Los Angeles Times, some believe her boss’ age and health make her an easy target for GOP attack ads.
Most vice presidents aren’t remembered in history the way Kamala Harris is sure to be –– being the first woman, first Black and first Asian American to hold the office. Combine misogynoir with her position in the administration and Democratic party, along with what’s predicted to be a contentious midterm election season, and perhaps the ads going after Harris are better contextualized.
Biden, who is a white male, with decades of political experience –– including connection to former President Barack Obama, from a working-class background and close family ties, is seen by many voters as an “average” American,” Keneshia Grant, a Howard University political scientist and author of The Great Migration and the Democratic Party, told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s difficult to argue against that in an ad,” Grant added.
Even as the attack ads come in, a host of voting rights advocates, and Harris, are working to make sure every vote cast in the midterms is counted, despite Republican-sponsored legislation that seeks to impose limits on voting.